Early Life

Ahmet Abdol was a professor of ancient Egyptology when he formed a theory that the Gods and pharaohs of old were actually ancient mutants. Accused of heresy when he announced his findings, Abdol was attacked by a mob who chased him through the streets with his wife and infant daughter. Abdol had a car wreck where his wife died in the burning vehicle, as the mob looked on and did nothing to help him save her. Abdol discovered he had the ability to manipulate cosmic energy, mainly by absorbing it and projecting it as energy blasts, reflexively firing upon the crowd as his mutant ability manifest. A man approached Abdol in the streets, claiming to represent the Cult of the Living Pharoah. The cult believed Abdol's research and saw him as a living god reborn. The man offered Abdol the services of the cult, and Ahmet Abdol became the Living Pharoah.[1]

Abdol's patron was actually the immortal mutant Apocalypse. He considered Abdol to be a broken, beaten man of great potential but without direction. Apocalypse acquired a sample of Alex Summers' (who would one day become the X-Man called Havok) DNA, insuring that its coding had been modified for his purposes, and had Mister Sinister graft it to Abdol. The experiment was only partially successful and resulted in an unexpected and quite unusual symbiotic relationship wherein Abdol's power was split between them and not shared. Because Alex Summers was young at the time and had not actively manifested his powers, the Living Pharoah received the majority of their power at first.[2]

Deciding to use his powers for his own personal gain, Abdol created a cult around himself and set about his plan to rule the world.

Years later, Abdol discovered that Alex Summers could absorb and project cosmic energy more easily then Abdol could. Abdol kidnapped Alex and used him to increase his power. Abdol found a way to screen Summers' body from ambient cosmic radiation, permitting his own body to attain its latent potential. Abdol was transformed into the Living Monolith, a gigantic mutant with vast cosmic power. The Monolith was defeated while in combat with the X-Men when Alex's latent mutant powers surfaced under the stress of entombment within the mechanism designed to screen him from cosmic radiation.[3] Abdol was captured by the Sentinels[4], but escaped when the X-Men freed all the captives.[5]

Abdol later stole the Ruby Scarab and battled the Living Mummy. Abdol was virtually powerless now that Summers' powers were active, and he relied on the Scarab to artificially restore his powers.[6]

Later, Havok and his girlfriend Polaris were attacked by henchmen of The Living Pharaoh. Alex was kidnapped before Lorna could stop them. After arriving in New York, Spider-Man came to Havok's aid but accidentally knocked The Living Pharaoh into a containment unit that was to be used to make Alex a living battery to amplify the Pharaoh's powers a million fold. Abdol was transformed into the Living Monolith again. He was beaten by Spider-Man and Thor.[7]

Later, using the Cheops Crystal, Abdol became the Living Monolith again without involving Alex Summers, drawing power from outside sources. He battled Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Cyclops, Storm, and Nightcrawler. Abdol was defeated again when the power pyramid created by the crystal was disrupted, reverting him back into his human form.[8]

He has also used other super-heroes, including the Fantastic Four (who gained their super powers from exposure to cosmic rays). He even killed his own daughter to achieve his goal. Abdol went on a rampage, and several heroes attempted to stop him. Eventually Abdol grew so large that Thor had to throw him into outer space, where the Living Monolith eventually became a Living Planet, similar to Ego.[1]

Distant relatives of Abdol were recruited by the Cult of the Living Pharaoh, searching for another leader who could harness Abdol's cosmic powers. Leila O'Toole, his alleged niece, became the new cult leader as Plasma.[9]

The essence of the Living Monolith returned to Earth in a small fragment that broken off from the Living Planet. A girl named Akasha Martinez accidentally channeled the Monolith's power and personality, battling Spider-Man.[10]

Abdol was then found floating in space by Deathbird and Bishop.[11] Deathbird betrayed Bishop[12] and with the help of the Skrulls brought Abdol to his cult and Apocalypse[13] who was able to revive him.[2]

Apocalypse wanted to use the Living Monolith to drain the powers of other super-beings. He made a bid for cosmic power by assembling "The Twelve" - a group of mutants who would determine the fate of their kind that included The Living Monolith, Cyclops, Phoenix (Jean Grey), Iceman, Professor X, Storm, Magneto, Bishop, Polaris, Sunfire, Mikhail Rasputin, Nate Grey, and Cable. To secure a new host body, Apocalypse sought to collect the mutants he required to carry out his plan and siphon the awesome energies of "The Twelve". They were wired to a machine that would channel the Twelve's awesome energies into Apocalypse, allowing him to absorb the body Nate Grey.[14][2][15] As his teammates fell around him, a powerless Scott saved Nate and merged with the would-be conqueror to create a new evil entity. Jean detected Scott's psyche inside Apocalypse and prevented the X-Men from destroying him, however, he was presumed dead by most of his teammates.[16] The Monolith fled with Apocalypse.[17][18]

The Once and Future Juggernaut

Years later, having survived Apocalypse and fought his way back to Earth, Abdol wandered aimlessly through the Sahara Desert when he, as well as others around the world, heard Cyttorak's call and went to Thailand to take the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak.[19] Once there, Abdol entered the temple where the gem was and confronted and defeated Storm, who alongside her fellow X-Men were keeping Cyttorak's chosen ones away from the gem. As the former hosts of Cyttorak's power Colossus and Cain Marko fought over the gem in the main chamber of the temple, Abdol entered it and claimed the ruby, becoming the new Juggernaut.[20]

The new Juggernaut.

Ready to bring about chaos upon the world, Abdol showed off his newfound powers until he realized that the X-Men weren't paying attention on him. After some time waiting, he was finally attacked by them. Unbeknownst to him, they were only buying Colossus enough time to call Cyttorak and defy him to a battle to the death, the winner taking all of Cyttorak's powers. In the middle of the fight against the X-Men, Abdol lost Cyttorak's powers and became the Living Monolith again, being attacked and apparently destroyed by the once and future Juggernaut, Cain Marko.[21]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Cosmic Energy Manipulation: As the Living Monolith he had the ability to emit cosmic energy as blasts of concussive force from his eyes. Abdol could only utilize his mutant powers as the Living Monolith and could transform into the Living Monolith only when cosmic radiation was channeled into his body through a focusing medium, such as the Cheops Crystal, or when cosmic radiation was prevented from reaching his counterpart, Havok.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Energy Absorption: The Living Monolith has been genetically altered by splicing his own mutant genes with those of the mutant X-Man Havok. This modification allows him to absorb large amounts of cosmic radiation - although as Havok absorbs the same radiation, the Living Monolith's powers can be limited when Havok absorbs background radiation (or other suitable energy sources) that might otherwise be used to fuel the Living Monolith.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Energy Blast: Although Havok projects absorbed radiation as energy blasts, the Living Monolith had a broader range of powers. He is able to project energy as intense heat, a concussive force, or sonic vibrations. Stored energy also affects his physical form - increasing his size, mass, strength, and resistance to injury, and granting him an indefinite lifespan. Although there appears to be no clear upper limit to the amount of power he can absorb, it is also possible to overload his powers.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Former Powers

Former Powers (as Juggernaut)

Avatar of Cytorrak:The Unstoppable Juggernaut possesses the conventional superhuman attributes of an Elder God; however, many of his abilities are greater than the average member of his race. Cyttorak grants his godly body to his avatar. The Crimson Gem of Cyttorak then bonds to his avatar's soul and makes him a god, by giving him this new body.

Superhuman Strength: The Juggernaut possesses vast superhuman strength the limits of which are unknown.

Superhuman Speed: Despite his immense size, Juggernaut's superhumanly strong leg muscles allow him to run and move at speeds beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete. He can run at speeds of 111 miles per hour or more.

Superhumanly Dense Tissue: The Juggernaut's skin, muscle, and bone is exactly 4 times denser than the same tissue in the body of a human being, greatly contributing to his superhuman weight.

Invulnerability: The Juggernaut is highly invulnerable to all forms of physical injury. The Juggernaut's skin is almost completely unbreakable and he is highly resistant to pain. The Juggernaut is also immune to all toxins, poisons, and disease.

Regenerative Healing Factor: If damaged, Juggernaut possesses a regenerative healing factor that enables him to regenerate with superhuman speed.

Self Sustenance: The Juggernaut is completely self sustained. He has no need to breathe, eat, or drink and cannot tire, hence he cannot sleep. However, his self generating mystical energies provides him with the nourishment of sleep, nutrition, hydration, and oxygen. He is sustained by his mystical energies alone.

Immortality: Juggernaut is immortal. He is not a millisecond past his absolute physical prime and is immune to aging. Nothing except perhaps total molecular disintegration can kill him.

Force Field: The Juggernaut is capable of generating a personal force field around himself, extending to about 1 foot in diameter from his body. He uses this force field for many purposes, such as preventing physical contact, keeping debris and unwanted materials off himself, erecting his force field to escape piles of debris easier, and a few other purposes as well. However, its most important purpose is the fact that if he is cast in concrete or other materials, for example a plane dropping a large amount of solidifying material that can put his body in a hard cast, or falling into wet concrete that would harden around him in a full body cast which would keep his motion prohibited, he can erect this force field to break out of a cast. Hence, without this force field he would not be unstoppable. The force field is also particularly resistant to such materials in the first place, as they would slide off much faster and more smoothly then from his body alone due to the fact it is pure energy. Also, his force field can resist mystical attacks better then the Juggernaut could do alone, as it is energy created from his actual power. Mystical weapons that can hurt Juggernaut have to penetrate his force field first, making it even more useful, not to mention the force field being able to produce more energy to continually push out an intruder that has managed to break into his defenses.

Embodiment of Irresistible Force: Once the Juggernaut begins to advance in a certain direction, it is virtually impossible to halt his movement. Some obstacles such as many tons of rocks and plasma-discharge cannons have slowed his pace but can't completely halt him. The only known examples of him being stopped involve physical force with mystical involvement, which is Juggernaut's sole weakness.

Abilities

Abdol has a gifted intellect, and is an expert archaeologist and Egyptologist, with a Ph.D. in archaeology. He is also an advance student of genealogy, human mutation, and the effects of cosmic radiation.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Abdol wore body armor of unknown materials.

Weapons

As the Living Pharaoh, he wielded a hand-held ankh capable of projecting bursts of concussive force. The Pharoah was forced to rely on this ankh as an amplifier whenever his powers were waning. He also used hypnotic gems to pacify opponents.[30] As the Juggernaut, he gained red-colored armor including a helmet that presumably shields his mind from telepathy, shoulder protectors, wrist protectors, and a loincloth that hung from a thick belt around his waist. [20]

Notes

Although the connection between Ahmet Abdol and Alex Summers was established from the beginning, the reason behind it was not explained until decades later in Uncanny X-Men #376. Abdol's powers came from a procedure performed on him by Mister Sinister. Sinister spliced certain x-genes from Alex Summers into his genome, thus increasing Abdol's ability to absorb cosmic energy. Apocalypse wanted to create the perfect mutant to act as the centerpiece of his ascension machine during The Gathering of the Twelve, and he hoped to enhance Abdol's existing energy absorbing powers to accommodate all the various energies of the other Twelve. Abdol's potential was successfully enhanced, but using Havok's genes had the unintended side effect of keeping Abdol limited so long as Alex Summers was active.

The issue above described Abdol as a non-mutant variant, suggesting Apocalypse was solely responsible for his abilities. This does not fit with Abdol's ability to generate cosmic bolts even before meeting En Sabah Nuhr, as seen in Marvel Graphic Novel #17. Furthermore, Abdol has been described as a mutant many times before and since, including in the same Gathering of the Twelve crossover. As a result, the "non-mutant variant" reference appears to be an error.

The Living Monolith's early appearances were reprinted in various comics.[31][32][33]

As a prominent villain of the X-Men the Living Monolith appears in various flashbacks.[34][35][36][37]